MSA - Loss Pequeno Glazier, "Io Sono" at Swoon'sAnthony Pino
Situation and Context. This video recording presents Loss Pequeno Glazier's digital poem, "Io Sono," which is Italian for "I am!" The presentation was made in 2002. The Mistress of Ceremonies introduces Glazier as a poet and professor of media studies, Director of the Electronic Poetry Center and a collaborator with the city of Buffalo on matters of media literature. (His center is known for electronic, experimental and avant-garde poems). Following his introduction---which is important because this is a performance presentation --- Glazier goes to the podium and taps at his computer in a long, commanding silence. He opens his demonstration with an explanation that this is indicative of how digital poetry and digital media intersect. His program uses language from different sources. He calls this poem his most recent "iteration," a word which suggests that there have been other versions before this one and that he was probably "tweaking" (my word) the poem for some time. He informs the audience that "the machine goes [on]without me." [The acoustics of this video are not always good and I have had to interpret---possibly wrongly---some of his statements.] The changeability of this poem leads him to pause occasionally to interpret his own poem (!) He informs the audience that the poem is different every time he sees it. He states that part of the enjoyment of the poem is "to keep you on your toes" with respect to its changes. Clearly this is a polyglot poem; I readily recognized Spanish, French, German and allusions to Hindu and Buddhist cultures. (Glazier himself is something of a polyglot---perhaps a "hyperpolyglot").The computer generated this poem using vocabulary and cultural allusions and other constraints issued by the poet. The commingling of languages creates delays and interest within the viewer, but also refreshes the viewer/reader with a sense of deep cultural influences. (Reminds me of t. s. elliot). The multiplicity of language sounds provides a sense of organized babble. But disorganization does not prevail because recurring themes, topics and imagery bind the poem together. Essentially, the narrator is in a dream, listening to his deceased father's guidance and commentary on life, work (career), digital programming and love. This scene has a mythical quality to it. A young man is dreaming about the return of his father, whose name is carved into a tree, under which the young man sleeps. There are continuous references to a concussion, which may have been the cause of the father's death, and the poem uses visceral, X-ray-like imagery of the concussion event. The word Cerebellum is repeated throughout the poem and creates a haunting effect. (In a sense that event also suggests the collision between humanity and the machines it must collaborate with). There's a playfulness about the continued brain issue because the audience is ingesting a poem which is a "brain-teaser," which challenges the viewer to continue her search for meaning in the poem. Late in the poem is an allusion to the poet's loss; this is a pun, because the poet's first name is Loss. (It is reminiscent of the opening lines of "Meditation at Lagunitas': "all the new thinking is about loss"). Other examples of humor include the father's advice to go to California and invest in cyber stocks.
Comment: While Glazier jokes about the poem "not meaning anything," in fact, for serious advocates of poetry, there's a great deal of serious subject matter to navigate. The poem is both funny and serious, titillating and resonant. Blunt force trauma is hard to shake, and its continuity suggests that a victim or the son of a victim needs empathy. This is an engaging and profound piece.
Questions: How much agency does the reader of this poetry have? Do you feel overpowered by it?Is it a satisfying read?Is too much "digging [for meaning] involved?
Situation and Context. This video recording presents Loss Pequeno Glazier's digital poem, "Io Sono," which is Italian for "I am!" The presentation was made in 2002. The Mistress of Ceremonies introduces Glazier as a poet and professor of media studies, Director of the Electronic Poetry Center and a collaborator with the city of Buffalo on matters of media literature. (His center is known for electronic, experimental and avant-garde poems). Following his introduction---which is important because this is a performance presentation --- Glazier goes to the podium and taps at his computer in a long, commanding silence. He opens his demonstration with an explanation that this is indicative of how digital poetry and digital media intersect. His program uses language from different sources. He calls this poem his most recent "iteration," a word which suggests that there have been other versions before this one and that he was probably "tweaking" (my word) the poem for some time. He informs the audience that "the machine goes [on]without me." [The acoustics of this video are not always good and I have had to interpret---possibly wrongly---some of his statements.] The changeability of this poem leads him to pause occasionally to interpret his own poem (!) He informs the audience that the poem is different every time he sees it. He states that part of the enjoyment of the poem is "to keep you on your toes" with respect to its changes. Clearly this is a polyglot poem; I readily recognized Spanish, French, German and allusions to Hindu and Buddhist cultures. (Glazier himself is something of a polyglot---perhaps a "hyperpolyglot").The computer generated this poem using vocabulary and cultural allusions and other constraints issued by the poet. The commingling of languages creates delays and interest within the viewer, but also refreshes the viewer/reader with a sense of deep cultural influences. (Reminds me of t. s. elliot). The multiplicity of language sounds provides a sense of organized babble. But disorganization does not prevail because recurring themes, topics and imagery bind the poem together. Essentially, the narrator is in a dream, listening to his deceased father's guidance and commentary on life, work (career), digital programming and love. This scene has a mythical quality to it. A young man is dreaming about the return of his father, whose name is carved into a tree, under which the young man sleeps. There are continuous references to a concussion, which may have been the cause of the father's death, and the poem uses visceral, X-ray-like imagery of the concussion event. The word Cerebellum is repeated throughout the poem and creates a haunting effect. (In a sense that event also suggests the collision between humanity and the machines it must collaborate with). There's a playfulness about the continued brain issue because the audience is ingesting a poem which is a "brain-teaser," which challenges the viewer to continue her search for meaning in the poem. Late in the poem is an allusion to the poet's loss; this is a pun, because the poet's first name is Loss. (It is reminiscent of the opening lines of "Meditation at Lagunitas': "all the new thinking is about loss"). Other examples of humor include the father's advice to go to California and invest in cyber stocks.
Comment: While Glazier jokes about the poem "not meaning anything," in fact, for serious advocates of poetry, there's a great deal of serious subject matter to navigate. The poem is both funny and serious, titillating and resonant. Blunt force trauma is hard to shake, and its continuity suggests that a victim or the son of a victim needs empathy. This is an engaging and profound piece.
Questions: How much agency does the reader of this poetry have? Do you feel overpowered by it?Is it a satisfying read?Is too much "digging [for meaning] involved?